


You with the sad eyes, don't be discouraged

by Wherethereissmoak



Series: Julie's Summer 2017 Hiatus Fics [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: But kind of ends up cannon adjacet, College AU, Cooper's suicide referenced, F/M, Olicity Hiatus Fic-A-Thon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 15:31:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11084541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wherethereissmoak/pseuds/Wherethereissmoak
Summary: Felicity returns to classes after what happened with Cooper, and a mysterious blue-eyed guy is surprisingly the person that starts to help her heal. One day, she gets to return the favor.





	You with the sad eyes, don't be discouraged

**Author's Note:**

> My submission for the Olicity Hiatus Fic-a-thon and my first attempt at a college AU. This week's prompt was "eye contact." Hope you enjoy. And now I have the song True Colors in my head because of the title.

This was the most ridiculous and humiliating thing she had ever endured.

Felicity Smoak, master hacker and double major in business and computers was sitting in Introduction to Computers 101  - as a student. She had thought her advisor was joking when she told Felicity, a college senior, that Intro to Computers was a required course to graduate.

It didn’t matter if she had taken many more advanced courses and was a senior. Nope. She had to sit here and listen to someone who probably didn’t know the difference between Linux and Windows. Frak you Starling University.

Cooper would have teased her to no end over this. She felt a twinge of pain in her heart at the thought of her now-deceased boyfriend. He had been arrested for their hacking antics and then killed himself in prison. Felicity let the guilt of her involvement in the hacking consume her.

Desperate for a distraction, she looked around the room at the other students. It looked like most of the people in the room were freshman, because they had actual effective advisors who told them to take this course at the proper time. Felicity did fit in with them a little though, as she was only 19. She started college at 15 and would be done before her 20th birthday.

Her eyes stopped on an older student come into the room – he must have had the same problem as her. Clearly not a freshman, but maybe with the maturity of one. He swaggered into the room as if he owned the place, winking at every female who crossed his path. And she wasn’t even going to start on his serial-killer haircut. Gross. Cooper would have had plenty of things to say about this guy.

Pain struck Felicity again and tears filled her eyes. She needed to stop thinking about Cooper. She had returned to her senior year in hopes of being able to move on with her life – but it wasn’t working out so well for her.

Cocky guy sat down at a computer station across the room and then sat down with a sigh. For a moment, his arrogant persona slipped and Felicity was surprised to see something underneath. His shoulders sank in defeat as he turned the computer in front of him on and rubbed his fingers together. She forgot about her own pain for a moment and wondered what was going on with him.

As if sensing that he was being watched – he lifted his head and his blue eyes met hers. Blue eyes was an understatement. They were stunning and vibrant. Felicity’s heart thudded in her chest, and she was surprised at her own reaction. He tilted his head inquisitively at her, as if trying to figure out.

Felicity realized she had tears around her eyes from her earlier moments thinking about Cooper and she hurriedly wiped them away. She forced herself to turn away from him when the class quieted down, but could feel his gaze continue to study her as the professor started class in the front of the room.

Microsoft Word. This professor was trying to teach a group of college students who had probably grown up around computers how to open fracking Microsoft Word. Felicity inwardly groaned. It was going to be a long semester. She peeked over at her blue-eyed mystery man. He caught her eye and rolled his eyes comically in the teacher’s direction. She covered her mouth to stifle a giggle, and that earned her a satisfied grin from him.

***

Oliver did not want to be here today. His parents had been fed up with his antics dropping out of all those colleges and had given him an ultimatum. He needed to finish the year up at Starling University, or he would be on his own, financially speaking.

Surprisingly, he had a lot of credits from the various colleges he had been to and they added up. After two years at SU, he was almost ready to graduate, but he had to complete a freshman computers course because apparently, he had slept through something similar at Harvard and failed.

He walked into the computer class, trying to make the most of it by flirting with all young freshmen girls he encountered. Laurel had been pressuring him to move in together lately, so having a little fun on the side might be just the distraction he needed. Or, if he got caught, it might end the relationship with Laurel that was far too serious for his liking.

He sat down at his desk with a sigh. What the hell was he doing? If he didn’t want to be with Laurel, he should just break up with her. He was exactly the immature person that everyone thought he was. Oliver knew he had to graduate and prove to everyone that he was better than they thought he was. And that started with changing himself. He needed to make better choices.

Oliver the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as if someone was watching him. He looked around the room before his eyes landed on a beautiful blonde on the other side. Their eyes locked and for one moment, the world stilled. She was quite possibly the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Beyond the beauty, her eyes reflected an intelligence above anyone he had ever encountered. Her blue eyes shone with tears, and the sadness in them tore a hole in his heart. What had happened to this lovely creature to make her so sad.

He may not be the best person in the world – but maybe he could start being a better man by trying to take away some of that sadness in her. He became obsessed with that thought. Making her smile became his mission. She turned away from him to listen to the idiot professor who assumed they knew nothing about computers. Oliver could tell by her body language that she thought he was ridiculous.

She turned toward him and Oliver rolled his eyes dramatically, causing her to giggle. Seeing the mirth in her eyes and the smile on her lips gave him a sense of accomplishment. And he wanted more.

The two of them exchanged humorous looks throughout the class. He was going to go over and talk to her at the end, but she got up and left quickly before he could. Oh well, he was actually looking forward to the next session of this boring class now.

***

Felicity didn’t know why she got up and ran from the class so fast. The mystery boy had cheered her up out of her funk over Cooper, and she wasn’t ready to admit what that meant. Should she feel guilty that someone else made her heart skip a beat? Should she even allow herself to smile?

Felicity pondered these thoughts over a pint of mint chocolate chip and decided that if she really wanted to move on with her life, she had to start somewhere. Even if that start was joking around with a guy with beautiful blue eyes.

She was surprisingly looking forward to the next computer class. When she got there, he was sitting in the same spot as last time. Felicity didn’t feel brave enough to sit next to him, so she returned to her seat on the other side of the room. She saw disappointment flicker in his eyes, or so she thought. It took her approximately two seconds to do the assignment given by the professor, so she used her time to hack into the room’s network and bring up messenger on his computer.

_GhostFoxGoddess: Are you as bored as I am?_

She watched as he looked at his computer in surprise. He looked up at her and grinned before turning back to his computer to type.

_TooSexyforThisClass: I don’t know what you are talking about. Now I don’t have to handwrite all my papers for college because I now know how to open Microsoft Word and actually save a document. My life has been changed._

Felicity laughed, and the teacher scowled at her. She put on a serious face and typed back.

_GhostFoxGoddess: Too sexy for this class? Are you kidding me with that name?_

_TakenDownaNotch: Is that better?_

_GhostFoxGoddess: LOL Much, better, mister._

_HumbleHottie: How about this one?_

_GhostFoxGoddess: Stop, you are going get me in trouble for laughing._

_HumbleHottie: It’s nice to see a smile on your face. You were too sad the other day._

The smile left Felicity’s face at the reminder, but her online friend was quick to change the subject.

_HumbleHottie: No, don’t get sad again. So why GhostFoxGoddess? What does that mean._

_GhostFoxGoddess: It was my hacker name._

_HumbleHottie: You’re a hacker? That’s so hot! Wait, why are you still not smiling? Why does hacking make you sad?_

Felicity didn’t know if it was because she was bored in class, or those soulful eyes looking for her, or she just longed for someone to talk to, but she unloaded the entire story of Cooper onto him in their chat window. He didn’t interrupt her at all, but occasionally looked over at her with encouragement.

When she was finished she sat and waited as the bubble on the chat window indicated that he was typing. Felicity waited for the usual platitudes she got from her friends and family. “I’m so sorry for your loss,” and “you need to live a happy life, it’s what Cooper would have wanted.” None of those things ever made her feel better, but nobody really knew what to say, so she couldn’t blame them.

_HumbleHottie: Not to speak ill of the dead, but he was an idiot._

Felicity stared at the screen in shock for a minute.

_HumbleHottie: You may hate me for saying this, but that guy did not deserve you. First, you are beautiful and smart and amazing and from what you told me, he did not appreciate that._

Felicity put her fingers on the keyboard to type an objection, but she realized she didn’t really have one. Cooper had treated her badly while they were dating. Still, she felt guilty for saying that when he went to prison and killed himself because of her.

_HumbleHottie: Second, you created something awesome and powerful with that code and HE made the choice to use it for something not good. You repeatedly told me throughout your story that it was all your fault but I really see no evidence of that. He made those choices, and then he took the cowards way out when he went to prison. NOT. YOUR. FAULT._

Felicity sat there in silence, not even paying attention to the professor as she let her online friend’s words sink in.

_HumbleHottie: You have to let it go, GhostFoxGoddess. You can’t change the past, but your future is whatever you wanted it to be._

For someone that seemed to be an arrogant jerk when she first saw him, he was surprisingly insightful. She was reeling from his words. Was it really not her fault? Could she move on with her life without soul crushing guilt?

Class ended and this time, her mysterious friend left before she did. She guessed he probably assumed his words had made her mad. Nothing could be further from the truth. Felicity went home that evening with a renewed sense of purpose. She had been avoiding tech jobs after graduation because she was afraid to delve too much into her skills, but now she applied to all of the computer jobs at prestigious companies she could find – Kord Industries, Wayne Enterprises, Queen Consolidated, Palmer Tech…etc.

He wasn’t in class the next time it met. Had he been a figment of her imagination? No, he had been real, and he had helped her in a way no one else could. She returned from the class without him and flipped on the TV in her dorm and gasped when she saw the face of her mysterious hero on the screen. Oliver Queen and his father lost at sea…presumed drowned. Her online class buddy had been none other than billionaire heir Oliver Queen.

Felicity hung her head in sadness. She had only talked to him a couple of times online, but she felt the loss of him nonetheless. He had changed her…for the better. And she vowed to take his words to heart and move on with her life and leave all of the pain of the past behind her. It was the least she could do for him.

She lost her goth look, dyeing her hair blonde for a complete change. Gone was the goth girl who drowned in her own pain, and here was the computer expert ready to take on the world.

***

Five years later, she was sitting in her cubicle at Queen Consolidated (she had chosen this job to honor her hero from long ago) when she heard a knock and looked up into a familiar pair of blue eyes.

“Felicity Smoak?” the voiced she was hearing for the first time asked. His eyes widened in surprised when he recognized her. “It’s you.”

“Yeah, and it’s you! You’re standing in my office! I never thought I would see you again after the whole shipwreck thing, but now you are here in IT listening to me babble, which I will stop in 3…2…1…”

The corners of his mouth turned up, but she noticed it did not reach his eyes. Those beautiful eyes that had once been filled with mirth and arrogance were now all pain and sadness. Felicity made it a vow that she would change that, like he had done for her. Making him smile, completely, was now her personal mission.

Over the next couple of months, as she joined his mission as a vigilante, she repeated many of the things that he had said to her.

“It’s not your fault.”

“You can’t change the past, but the future is whatever you want it to be.”

And little by little, he started to believe it – until one day they were driving out of Starling City with the top down after defeating Ra’s al Ghul.

“Can I say something strange? I’m happy,” he told her. And when she looked at his smiling face, she saw that the happiness was finally reaching his eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> True story: I had to take Intro to Computers as a senior in college and it was such a waste of time and money. Years later I am still bitter, so I channeled that into Felicity for this story LOL.


End file.
